In brief: GM says it plans to pay off bailout
DETROIT – It will take a couple of years for taxpayers to get back the billions they spent bailing out General Motors, but the company has a goal of returning the money, GM’s new CEO said Thursday.
CEO Daniel Akerson told reporters that the government won’t be repaid with the company’s initial public stock offering, which could happen later this year, but couldn’t answer more specific questions about the sale.
Akerson, a former telecommunications industry executive and GM board member since July 2009, said the $50 billion government bailout of GM saved a lot of jobs and helped to preserve the country’s manufacturing base.
Associated Press
Major U.S. carriers will sell Galaxy Tab
NEW YORK – Samsung says all four major U.S. wireless carriers will sell its iPad-like tablet computer in the coming months.
Samsung and the service providers – AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless – aren’t saying how much the Galaxy Tab will cost, or exactly when it will be on sale.
The Galaxy Tab has a 7-inch screen, half the size of the iPad. It runs Google Inc.’s Android smart phone software and can play Flash video from the Web, which the iPad can’t. It also has two cameras for videoconferencing, which the iPad lacks.
Associated Press
Dell opening large center in China
SEATTLE – Dell Inc. is making a $100 billion bet that China will remain one of the fastest-growing markets for personal computers over the next decade.
Dell said Thursday it plans to open a manufacturing, sales and service center in Chengdu in 2011 that could eventually employ more than 3,000 workers.
China has been courting foreign investors for projects in its western regions as a matter of policy for more than a decade. Dell would not say what sort of incentives it was offered to construct new facilities in Chengdu.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell already employs about 6,000 people in China.
Associated Press
Briefcase
From wire reports
• Research in Motion said it made a profit of $797 million, or $1.46 per share, in the three months ended Aug. 28. That’s up from $476 million, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.35 per share, on average. Revenue rose 31 percent to $4.62 billion, better than the $4.47 billion expected by analysts.
• FedEx Corp. indicated Thursday that the global economic recovery remains uneven. While strength in international shipments is boosting net income, FedEx is cutting 1,700 jobs in its U.S. freight business to offset losses there. International air shipments have driven FedEx’s results for more than a year; international revenue rose 24 percent in the quarter ended Aug. 31. But while FedEx earned $380 million in the first quarter, the FedEx Freight segment lost $16 million and has been unprofitable for four straight quarters.
• Shareholders of Fiat approved the separation of Fiat’s auto and industrial vehicle businesses. Fiat Industrial SpA will comprise CNH farm and construction equipment, Iveco trucks and FPT Industries and Marine activities. Fiat SpA will include Fiat Group Autos, the owner of Fiat, Alfa and Lancia, as well as Maserati and 85 percent of Ferrari. The demerger marks a historic shift for Fiat, which was founded 111 years ago as an auto company and grew into a conglomerate encompassing a broad range of products all powered by engines.